Laguna Dance Festival

Choreographer David Parsons, whose eight-member company opened the Laguna Dance Festival on Thursday, is one of those lucky ducks for whom ideas come almost too easily.

Parsons’ choreography is unfailingly attractive. As a dancer with Paul Taylor’s company he was lauded for his elegant athleticism. He brings the same qualities to his movement vocabulary: it’s full of thrilling spins and sudden reverses, surprises and “wow!”-inducing feats. Unlike Twyla Tharp’s work, which Parsons’ sometimes resembles in superficial ways, his ideas seem to emanate from pedestrian sources; they never lose their connection to the natural world.

I say “too easily” because at times this talented choreographer relies to a fault on surface attractiveness. Some of his work doesn’t dig beyond the simple thrill of kinesthetic derring-do.

When Parsons connects on a deeper level, the results can be moving, even profound.

In “Brothers,” two dancers (Steve Vaughn and Ian Spring) enact the rites and rituals of brotherhood. They begin competitively, and much of the dance captures the exhaustive process of sibling rivalry and one-upmanship. Each tries to plant himself in front of the other; muscles are flexed; bodies bump together in not-so-friendly conflict.

But “Brothers” ends with surprising tenderness as the pair walks upstage hand in hand after an extended, heartfelt hug. Rivalry can be exhausting, especially when it will never be resolved. Blood finally triumphs over ego.

An excerpt from the still unfinished “EK90,” commissioned in honor of the artist Ellsworth Kelly's 90th birthday, provided a tantalizing glimpse into a dark-shaded, intricate world. Parsons’ choreography is precise, rigorously controlled and even contemplative and quiet at times – a quality I don’t often associate with him. Kelly’s hard-edged, stripped-down paintings are associated with the minimalist school, and you can see those elements reflected clearly in Parsons’ movements and Howell Binkley’s moody lighting.

The work ends with all eight dancers walking slowly upstage as Steve Reich’s repetitive music thrums a hypnotic rhythm. It’s a moment that leaves you wondering what’s to come – an excellent way to end a sneak preview.

The rest of the evening was lighter in tone but just as virtuosic in execution.

“Round My World” is a creative study of roundness. The dance begins with six dancers twirling in a center-stage circle, and permutations quickly spin off from that hub: spheres within spheres, beautifully rounded port de bras, slow orbits that encompassed the entire Laguna Playhouse stage. As a study it’s constantly inventive, but on a symbolic level it’s too open-ended. Even a choreographer as talented at Parsons can’t avoid a movement-as-wallpaper effect when a work this thematically simple goes on for 20 minutes.

“Swing Shift,” a busy piece for four couples that closed the first half of Thursday’s performance, is similarly enjoyable and thematically light. Elements of popular dance are interwoven with sharp, angular movements as Parsons’ choreography effortlessly morphs from duets to solos to ensemble passages. Like Kenji Bunch’s attractive score, which slyly references popular music, Parsons plays with elements of mid-20th century social dancing without explicitly appropriating its movements.

The second half began with “Kind of Blue,” a sultry and playful work for two men and two women set to Miles Davis’ famous recording of “So What?” It doesn’t demand too much of the audience, and it’s another crowd-pleaser.

So is “Caught.” Choreographed in 1982, early in Parsons’ choreographic career, this solo has become his calling card. In the beginning, dancer Ian Spring seems trapped as he moves from one spotlight to another, constricted by his circumstances. Then a strobe light is turned on and he breaks free in ways that seem to defy gravity.

Timing his jumps and movements precisely to the momentary illumination of the strobe, Spring appears to fly across the stage, at times holding his mid-air position as his frozen body moves right and left, upstage and downstage. It’s a simple trick, but it’s choreographed and performed with an exactitude that left the audience whooping with amazement.

In “Nascimento Novo,” the music of Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist Milton Nascimento has inspired Parsons to explore movement that excitingly amplifies some of his best qualities as a choreographer.

Two women begin the dance by dancing to a complex percussion rhythm with large, indulgent leg thrusts. Then the music morphs intriguingly into something else entirely; Parsons follows suit. It’s exhilarating and well constructed, like all of Parsons’ work, and full of great moments – attractive, quirky unison movement, a slow-motion sequence, a brief but sexy pas de deux, several passages in which dancers are silhouetted against a pastel-colored background.

As a sampler of Parsons’ choreography and the impressive virtuosity of his ensemble, you couldn’t ask for a better program than Thursday’s festival opener. Still, for the kind of dance-savvy crowd that Laguna Dance Festival founder Jodie Gates has cultivated over the last nine years, Parsons could offer more depth.

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